Chapter 19 #3
More than I could ever tell you. Kaden was even surer of that now.
Opening his mouth to Alistair would result in Joe being taken away and Kaden would never see him again.
Maybe Kaden would be locked up too. He looked down at Elsie, scratched behind her ear and she whined with pleasure.
His mind raced, trying to piece everything together, to consider the risk. What happens if we’re caught?
“Who’s the target?”
“Before that, I want to know what you’re not telling me about Joe. And you sign the OSA.”
Alistair studied him for a long moment. Kaden had thought Alistair was so open and now he had no idea what he was thinking.
“And if I say I don’t want to do it?”
“Then nothing happens,” Alistair said. “You stay here as long as you need. You continue writing. Life goes on.”
Kaden blinked. “That’s it?” His pulse thudded in his ears.
“No, not quite. If you refuse,” Alistair continued, his voice calm, “I learn something about you. About your limits. About where your loyalties lie. I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important. Joe’s asylum request will find itself fast-tracked if you say yes.”
Really?
“If you say no, then Joe might find himself under further scrutiny and his departure might happen sooner rather than later. I’m not happy about the fact that we can’t verify his story. The only good thing about that is the target won’t be able to either.”
Kaden exhaled. “Now you’re blackmailing me into doing it? I liked you!”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Fucking hell. And you’re not fucking sorry!
“The newspaper will make the approach,” Alistair said.
“It adds legitimacy. You gain access to his office or home and place the device somewhere inconspicuous. It’s small and sticky.
We can tell you the sort of spot to put it.
There’ll be no connection between you and it.
You walk away, write your piece and it appears in the paper. You’ll be clean.”
The word felt anything but. “And if I’m caught?”
“Denial. Claim someone else must have done it.”
“If I was seen doing it?”
“Don’t get caught.”
Another pause.
“And if I am?”
Alistair sighed. “Admit you crossed a line because you were chasing a career-defining story. That you didn’t know what you were going to find but you’d had a call from a reliable source. Tell him it was your one shot.”
“I need to speak to Joe first.”
“Go ahead.”
Kaden let go of Elsie and pushed to his feet. When he went into the living room, he beckoned Joe. “Come outside.”
Joe stood up. “Do we have to leave?”
“I don’t know.”
They grabbed their jackets from the hook in the hall and went out into the street. Kaden walked several metres away from the house with Joe at his side.
“What’s going on?” Joe asked.
Kaden told him almost everything. He didn’t mention the bag of carrots Alistair had offered or the stick he’d wielded, but he did say that Alistair wasn’t convinced by his story.
Joe groaned. “That’s…not good.”
“No.”
“This is a dangerous thing to ask you to do.”
“Maybe not immediately,” Kaden said. “I’d have to make sure I wasn’t seen placing it. But when it’s discovered, would he assume it was me? Then what? How could I ever feel safe?” How could either of them feel safe?
Joe ran a hand through his hair. “If Alistair doesn’t trust me—us—then why is he pursuing this?”
“He said because if he can’t check your background, then neither can the target. Maybe he has no other options.”
“Or we’re expendable.”
Kaden glanced back towards the house, then lowered his voice. “He’s convinced we’re hiding something about you.”
Joe huffed. “He’s not wrong.”
“So let’s give him something. Just enough that he stops digging.”
Joe frowned. “Like what?”
Kaden hesitated. “Something true. Just incomplete.”
“Less detail, not more.”
“Exactly.”
“I could say I grew up in a conflict area,” Joe said slowly. “That someone helped me get out and that I don’t talk about it.”
“He already knows that. What if you’re the son of someone important?”
“There’d be records.”
“Then the son of a mistress of someone important. English or American. That would be kept quiet.”
“She’d have to be dead but still have existed.”
Kaden chewed his lip. “Then we tie it to someone killed in Afghanistan and keep it vague.”
“What would her family say to the claim that she had an affair and an illegitimate son? It’s not kind to tell those sorts of lies.”
“We can ask that they’re not revealed. But Alistair would still investigate. It has to sound feasible.”
Joe shook his head. “She has to stay unidentified. I only knew the name she was called in Afghanistan. There would be no way of tracing her then. But we need a name for my dead father. And not someone too important.”
Kaden turned his back on the house and googled.
“A district police chief and nine of his officers were ambushed and killed in a remote province of Afghanistan when you’d have been a young boy.
There are only names given for the important people.
Your father could have been one of those policemen.
Still a risk. There’ll be an official list somewhere.
But not one necessarily accessible.” He deleted his search history.
“What about Azizullah for my father. Mary for my mother.”
“It should work. You’d have been too young to remember dates, which gives nothing specific for Alistair to check. It’s broad enough.”
Joe looked at him, and brushed his fingers against Kaden’s hand. “And the job?”
Kaden exhaled. “I haven’t said yes. He won’t tell me who it is until I agree. And we’d need to sign the Official Secrets Act to ensure we don’t tell anyone.”
“But you’re thinking about it?”
Kaden didn’t answer straight away.
“Are you?” Joe whispered.
“Yes,” he admitted. “Alistair wouldn’t be taking this risk asking me if it wasn’t important.” But it had more to do with the threat to Joe if he said no, and a little about the benefit to Joe if he said yes.
Joe nodded once. “I can be your photographer. How hard can it be to pretend? I’ll research.”
“I don’t want you at risk too.”
“I don’t want you to do it unless I’m with you. It might be easier for me to put the device in place.”
Kaden knew he should be keeping Joe away from this but he’d feel better if he was there. He let out a quiet breath, his mind still racing. “They’ll have to loan us a camera so you can practise.”
“Fine,” Joe said. “Whatever we do, we don’t get pulled in deeper than we choose.”
Kaden gave a faint, humourless smile. “I think that ship might’ve already sailed.” He hoped its name wasn’t the Titanic.
Back in the house, they found Alistair in the kitchen.
“You want more details about me,” Joe said. “I’ll give them but you must promise to tell no one.”
Not that either of them trusted Alistair to keep quiet, but Kaden wanted to know Alistair had their backs.
By the time Joe had finished speaking, Alistair looked convinced, or maybe he was putting an act on to convince them.
Kaden thought it all sounded feasible. The attack had actually happened and even if the police officers’ names were traceable, it would still take time.
But more importantly, they were saying yes to doing this and that was all Alistair really cared about.
“We’ll do it,” Kaden said. “Both of us. Joe will need a camera and time to learn how to use it. So who is it?”
“Sign this first. Both of you.”
Kaden didn’t bother reading it. Joe did. They both signed.
Alistair reached into his pocket and placed a folded photograph on the table between them.
Kaden hesitated, then picked it up. His stomach dropped.
“Oh,” he said.
Joe looked over his shoulder. Kaden wondered if he knew who this was.
Alistair watched them both carefully. “You recognise him.”
Kaden looked up. “Eli Blake. A government finance minister.”
“Who’s been seen reading the day-in-the-life articles you’ve written.
He’s also read your books. He’s fond of attention.
We believe he’ll say yes to the interview, especially if approached by a prestigious newspaper.
He’ll either speak to you in his home or in his office. Either venue works for us.”
“What if he has his room or office swept for bugs after he’s had a visitor? When he finds the device you want me to plant, it’ll be us he comes after. Can you be sure we’ll be safe?”
“He doesn’t have bug sweeps done. If a recording confirms our suspicions, he’ll be removed from office very quickly. He won’t be looking at you.”
Kaden’s grip tightened slightly on the photo. “So I walk into his home or office and plant a device.”
“You place it,” Alistair said. “You don’t linger. You behave normally. You do the job you went to do. If for any reason you can’t place the device, then don’t do it. No unnecessary risks.”
“Just the necessary one.”
Alistair half-chuckled. “You’re sensible. You’ll do the right thing.”
“And when it’s found?”
“If it’s found,” Alistair corrected, “then it becomes a security issue on his end. Not yours.”
Kaden shook his head faintly. “That feels optimistic.”
“There’s always risk,” Alistair said. “Just not the kind you’re imagining. This guy isn’t going to resort to violence.”
You think. Kaden let out a breath. “There’s no one else who can do it?”
“There are people who could,” Alistair said. “But they don’t have your access, or your profile or your deniability. You’re exactly the sort of person he won’t question. That’s what makes you useful.”
“What has this man done?” Joe asked.
“Better that you have no idea about that.”
“But it’s bad?” Kaden whispered.
“Very bad.”